CAPSULE:
In this comedy/drama Pat, a bipolar man with
violent mood swings, is released from a mental
hospital and tries to put his life back together.
Moving in with his parents may be a mistake, with a
father who has worse mind problems than he has. He
meets an unstable woman, Tiffany, who may be able to
help him get back together with his wife. There is
some charm to the story, but the final act is very neat,
predictable, contrived, and not up to originality of
the first two. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10

Pat Solitano (played by Bradley Cooper) has bi-polar disorder and
has violent episodes when he is angry. He has lost his job as a
teacher and has been institutionalized for the previous eight
months as part of a plea bargain. This was following a rage-attack
against his wife Nikki whom he found in the shower having sex with
another man (while playing the same song that was played at their
wedding). As the film opens Pat is being released and is looking
forward to getting back together with Nikki in spite of the
restraining order against him. He has to move back in with his
parents Pat Sr. and Dolores (Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver). It
is clear that much of Pat's mental problems he gets from his father
who has rages just as violent and who entertains an unhealthy
obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles. Pat Sr., also unemployed,
wants to pull together enough money buy a restaurant by becoming a
bookmaker and mostly betting on the Eagles. In Pat Jr.'s efforts
to win back Nikki he might be able to get some help from Tiffany--
also mentally unstable--but who might be able to help him get
together with his wife.

Pat thinks that he has his mental problems under control.
Appreciating silver linings to problems play a major part of his
personal self-treatment. But he still falls into rages and he acts
irrationally at times. He has taken to running as a way to keep
his mind under control and for some reason not explained chooses to
do wearing like a poncho a garbage bag with holes for his head and
arms. And when he runs Tiffany seems to have an almost
supernatural ability to run into him.

Writer/director David O. Russell (who formerly helmed THE FIGHTER
in 2010) gives us another story of a violent person putting his
life back together after he has mismanaged it. While the film may
technically be a romantic comedy, it is one with a lot of pain that
overshadows the happy and the unhappy moments. And even the happy
moments at the end cannot be fully enjoyed because the plot at that
point is so heavily contrived.

The film is unpredictable in the first half, but as the third act
arrives everything starts falling all too neatly into place. The
final act seems to gloss over Pat's mental problems by simply not
showing any more violent episodes. Will love conquer all? Well,
it does not seem to have for Pat's mother Dolores. Played by
Australian actress Jacki Weaver, we can see in her eyes that she is
paying a life-long price for her love of the explosive Pat, Sr.
from whom Pat, Jr. has inherited more than just a name. We are
given no reason to believe that when times get a little harder that
Pat's personality problems may not rear their heads again. One
rather suspects that the aftermath of this film is not going to be
a happily ever after. I rate SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK a high +1 on
the -4 to +4 scale or 6/10.